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The citizens of Vulcan say they want to boldly go where no town has gone before — and build their very own, fully-functional U.S.S. Enterprise. Construction of a working look-alike of Star Trek’s famous spaceship would create 10,000 jobs and transform the rural community into “the gateway of the future” — all supporters need to do is raise $2 billion in the next two months.

In the new legislature sitting this week, the opposition MLAs circled Premier Jim Prentice like piranhas, trying to figure out if it’s safe to swarm him. Not quite yet, Wildrose decided, while the Liberals and the NDP gave it a tentative try. The noble notion of genteel debate wilted momentarily when NDP Leader Rachel Notley told the house: “After promising not to […]

EDMONTON — Premier Jim Prentice announced $160 million in new funding over four years to upgrade accommodations for low-income seniors in rural Alberta during a speech to rural politicians Thursday. Prentice said the $40 million a year in federal and provincial money will help renovate and replace aging seniors lodges across the province. “Enabling seniors to stay […]

Junior oilsands producer Laricina Energy Ltd. has given up for now on plans for an initial public offering to fund the $520-million Saleski project and has hired bank advisers to find private equity investors or a buyer to supply at least $350 million by early next year.

The Jim Prentice government made bold promises on environmental stewardship and fiscal stewardship in a throne speech Monday that included a laundry list of pledges the new premier and his predecessors have previously made. The PC government promised to hold the line on spending and develop a long-awaited climate change strategy by working with First […]

BANFF — Slumping oil prices have the Tory government looking for new sources of cash — including possible toll roads — as it heads into a new session of the legislature Monday. At an upbeat Progressive Conservative annual general meeting this weekend, Premier Jim Prentice struck a rare sombre note as he warned that oil prices that have slid under $75 […]

BANFF — This convention isn’t just a love-in. It’s more like a political orgasm — a burst of affection for the great redeemer, Premier Jim Prentice. The mood of the Progressive Conservative meeting at the Fairmont Banff Springs — Prentice’s first as party leader — is happy, ebullient, trusting, humble, friendly, helpful and almost worshipful. Most days you can’t find […]

BANFF — Alberta’s Tories may not have lost an election in the last four decades but Premier Jim Prentice told ecstatic party members the Progressive Conservatives are solidly on the comeback trail. Speaking at the PC annual general meeting at the Banff Springs Hotel, a confident Prentice touted the 10 “busy, busy” weeks since he won the […]

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says she trusts Premier Jim Prentice not to call a general election for another year and a half. Under provincial law, the next election is scheduled to be held within a three-month period in spring 2016. Smith told reporters at the party’s annual convention in Red Deer that she doesn’t expect […]

Alberta's Tories will be celebrating a "second chance" as they gather in Banff this weekend while 250 kilometres away Wildrose party members will be in an introspective mood as they ruminate on their party's fortunes in Red Deer.

Alberta’s health minister is blowing smoke on implementing a sweeping ban on flavoured-tobacco products by considering an exemption on menthol cigarettes, says the Liberal’s health critic. Dr. David Swann said Health Minister Stephen Mandel is delaying proclamation of Bill 206, which received overwhelming support in the provincial legislature last year, and accusing him of caving in to tobacco lobbyists keen on ensuring menthol cigarettes are excluded from the ban.

The government of France has appointed a veteran lawyer Roy Klassen as the country’s honorary consul in Calgary. France’s ambassador to Canada, Phillipe Zeller, appointed Klassen to the post last week, during French President Francois Hollande’s first official state visit to Western Canada.

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